CO129-348 - Governor Sir Lugard - 1908 [7-10] — Page 101

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not be able to find time to serve on a Sanitary Board,

even

though it partook of the nature of a Municipal Council. In a

Cosmopolitan Community like Shanghai they are compelled to form

their own Government, but in a Crown Colony like this it is

probable that the leading men would not consent to devote so

much of their time from the pressing calls of business, as

would enable them to be members of a Municipal

Council. A

Council of second or third rate men is hardly desirable. (c). It

is difficult to see how a Municipal Council could possibly be

created in a Colony with so large a Military Garrison and Naval

contingent to whom such a form of control would not be welcome

and with whom friction would undoubtedly arise; this objection

was indeed emphasized by a former Secretary of State. (d). Were

a Municipal Council created it would be difficult to resist the

claims of the Chinese Community for an adequate representation,

while the European residents of a British Colony would not

tolerate Government by a Chinese majority. Such a majority

would be wholly opposed to Sanitary measures,

the ostensible

object for which the Municipal Council would be constituted. Even if not in a majority a strong Chinese representation would be a danger to this Colony in that its interests would tend to be controlled by Canton, and the tendency of those Authorities to interfere would beyond doubt be much strengthened. (a). There

a